Calgary Jazz Orchestra ENTERTAINMENT 2011 Concert Review

“Does anyone here remember growing up?” asked CJO director Johnny Summers at the start of the jazz concert which took place in River Park Church on Sunday, January 30, 2011.

The programme for ENTERTAINMENT! was set as a musical trip down memory lane for listeners young and old. The Calgary Jazz Orchestra performed top pop songs by Billy Joel, Sting, Michael Jackson and the Beatles; along with a sampling of video game music and film soundtracks.

The Jazz Band from William Aberhart High School Warmed up the Crowd

The Jazz Band from William Aberhart High School opened the concert with two numbers: "Count Bubba", an upbeat number by Gordon Goodwin of the Big Phat Band and "The Meaning of the Blues", a sultry ballad composed by Bobby Troup.

The Jazz Band has performed in concerts, festivals and competitions throughout Alberta, such as the Vic Lewis Band Festival in Canmore. The group won several awards at the 2010 Alberta International Band Festival. William Aberhart's The Jazz Band is directed by Kevin Willms.

A Pop Culture Buffet and Impromptu Performances Mark the CJO's First Set

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra set a nostalgic theme by opening with the theme from Spiderman. This lively swing number featured toe-tapping solos by Carsten Rubeling on trombone, Shane Statz on sax and Willy Joosen on piano. Incidentally, Joosen is the organist for the Calgary Flames, a post he has held for over 22 years.

The only video game music that was officially on the programme was Koji Kondo's "Bob-omb Battlefield" from Nintendo®'s Super Mario video games. This lively arrangement was done by Brendan McElroy, a Calgary bassist who now lives and works in Toronto.

McElroy is the co-founder of The Runaway Five, a video game band that has opened for the Video Games Live concerts in Toronto. Sarah Matheson on bari sax and Greg Baker on drums performed jaw-dropping solos. Slipping in the "Underworld Theme" was a nice touch.

The impromptu moments were a stroke of genius. When asked what music is played at the Calgary Flames hockey games, Willy Joosen answered by playing several memorable themes on piano, including the "Star Trek Battle Theme" and the theme from the TV hit show The Simpsons. The audience listened in rapt silence to The Simpsons.

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra wrapped up the first set with the theme song from the popular TV show, Family Guy. This number featured solos by Kim Beachum on trumpet, Dr. Jeremy Brown on sax and Carsten Rubeling. Other songs featured in the first half included the theme from Tennessee Williams' "A Street Car Named Desire", classic pop songs "Fragile" by Sting and "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel.

More Movie Music and Classic Pop Songs in the CJO's Second Set

The jazz concert's second half began with a snazzy arrangement of John Williams' "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Potter movies. It began in an eerie fashion before moving to a lively jazz waltz. Reminisces of the “Song d'une nuit du Sabbat” from Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique came to mind when Gerry Hebert played "Hedwig's Theme" in the highest register for the clarinet. This number featured solos by Gerry Hebert, Shane Statz on tenor sax and Jeremy Brown on alto sax.

The programme included one Michael Jackson hit, "The Way You Make Me Feel". This arrangement featured Johnny Summers on vocals. It started off slowly and then switched to a more upbeat tempo.

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra wrapped up the concert with a rousing Beatles medley arranged by Greg Baker. The medley included "Eight Days a Week", "All My Loving", "When I'm 64" and "Hey Jude" and featured solos by Sarah Matheson. Jeremy Brown, Kim Beachum, Carsten Rubeling, Al Muirhead on trumpet, Greg Baker and Johnny Summers on trumpet. No performance of "Hey Jude" is complete without someone waving a cell phone to the music. The cell waving began on stage and was quickly picked up by one section in the audience.

Other songs featured on the programme included Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and the theme from the film The Man With the Golden Arm, which starred Frank Sinatra.

Will Joosen stole the show in several parts, launching in the the theme song from Wheel of Fortune in response to a dramatic “Oh!” from the audience and more VG music, this time, various themes from the Pac-Man® series.

The playing was top notch for this concert. However, there were a couple of “blips”. First, there were no printed programmes (glitch at the printers). Second, for a programme that touted music from video games, the gamer geeks in the audience wanted more than one video game song on the official programme (although Willy Joosen's musical tangents were a great touch). With the sheer volume of pop, VG music and movie music out there, the CJO will have plenty of material to draw from for upcoming concerts.

About the Calgary Jazz Orchestra

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra is a 16-piece jazz ensemble founded in 2004 by director Johnny Summers. The music for this concert was arranged by Johnny Summers, Greg Baker, Shane Statz and Brendan McElroy.

The CJO delivered a fun programme featuring mostly classic pop songs dubbed “ENTERTAINMENT!”, held Sunday, January 30, 2011. The band launched its 2010/11 season with music by Charles Mingus and Oscar Peterson and followed up with “A Perfectly Frank Christmas”, which featured music by Frank Sinatra. The ensemble's upcoming concert on April 10, 2011 will feature music by Duke Ellington and Harry Connick Jr. For concert tickets or more information, visit the Calgary Jazz Orchestra's website.

Originally published on Suite101.com on Feb 2, 2011. Updated July 23, 2013.

Calgary Jazz Orchestra's 2013 Pop! Concert Review

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra wrapped up its 2012/13 season on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at Riverpark Church. Pop! featured big band jazz arrangements of pop and rock classics, as well as two world premieres.

Directed by Judy Wishloff, Churchill's Blue Jazz Band opened for the CJO by performing two numbers. The jazz band first performed A Blues for Dave by Doug Beach, which featured trombone and guitar solos.

Mike Tomaro's arrangement of I Mean You (Thelonious Monk) opened with an upbeat piano solo. It showcased the trombone, trumpet, soprano sax, piano and drums.

The Beatles, Jesus Jones and the World Premiere of Calgary Suite at the CJO

The first half of the programme featured big band arrangements and compositions by Greg Baker, while the second half showcased Johnny Summers' arrangements. Jammin' (Bob Marley) began brightly in the trumpets, while the saxophones painted a groovin' night scene. The trombones cruised steadily towards the solos. Jammin' featured solos by Gerry Hebert on alto saxophone, Dave Reid on trombone and André Wickenheiser on trumpet.

The CJO presented the world premiere performance of Greg Baker's Calgary Suite ("Ten Days in July", "Rockies" and "Waiting for the Chinook"). Due to time constraints, "Rockies" was omitted.

Ten Days in July" conjured up sound pictures of Cowtown. The trombones played a recurring accented hoedown-eque motif. The saxophones and trumpets circled around like a chuckwagon race.

The solos maintained the festive mood. Johnny Summers' trumpet danced and bounced like carnival lights and bells. In contrast, Shane Statz's tenor sax looped around like a sheepdog herding sheep. Egor Ukoloff (piano) and Greg steadily built up the intensity, punctuated by shots from the band. Sarah Matheson's bari sax solo spun like the Tornado ride, while Gerry's solo rang out like casino slot machines.

"Waiting for the Chinook" began as a ballad, later becoming bright swing. The varied layers were a delight to listen to, for example, flugelhorns with trombones and muted trumpets with piano. It featured solos by Rich Harding on alto sax, Egor, Kodi, Shane, Paul Ashwell on trombone and Greg on drums. There was a lovely dialogue between Johnny on the flugelhorn and Dean Yeats on trombone.

The CJO performed two more numbers in the first set. There was an easy swing version of Right Here Right Now (Mike Edwards) and a medium swing arrangement of Help (John Lennon & Paul McCartney).

CJO Premieres The Wonderment Suiteby Johnny Summers

CJO Director Johnny Summers recounted a conversation he had with a patron during intermission. She inquired about what the band plays and the arrangements. Johnny responded by describing the elements of music as a musician's palette of colours, which is used to paint a picture musically, while the form of the piece provides a road map to follow. Jazz musicians must stay within the confines of the form while improvising.

Johnny Summers' The Wonderment Suite was premiered in the second set. Each movement captured a mood: "Awakening", "Stability", "Thrill", "Confidence", "Adventure", "Sweetness" and "Wonderment". The final number was cut from the programme due to time constraints.

"Awakening" eased the audience in, opening with a sleepy melody on soprano sax by Gerry Hebert, while the trombones played sustained tones. The rest of the sections joined in one by one. It featured solos by Gerry, as well as Gordon Wilhelm on trumpet.

"Thrill" opened with a tremendous amount of energy. Like a child searching for hidden Christmas presents before Christmas, the solos captured a building sense of excitement and the thrill of discovery using meandering lines and playful rhythms. It featured solos by Sean Craig on tenor sax and Paul on euphonium, along with Egor and Sarah. There were chatty tenor sax exchanges between Shane and Sean.

The trombone section oozed with "Confidence", with a swaggering recurring motif and later, by taking over the stage. Shane's solo featured driving lines that traversed up and down the musical road. Meanwhile, members of the trombone section provided comic relief by standing and sitting like Whac-a-Moles because one of them rose up to play early.

Brian Walley's trombone solo soared and leaped playfully, while Johnny's trumpet spun and shot out a brilliant spray of notes.

The music faded away, at which point, the trombone section stood up one by one, delighting everyone onstage and in the house with a cutting contest. Who could play the slowest? Lowest? Loudest?

Adele's Skyfall closed the second set. This gritty ballad opened with a unison chord that waxed and waned into the night. Then the piano came in, joined by the bass, trombones, clarinets and flugelhorns. Johnny successfully handled that challenging, disjunct vocal melody.

The CJO also performed Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel, a crowd favourite from a couple of seasons back. For an encore, the band played Johnny Cash's Folsom Blues. Everyone went all out for their final solo of the season. Of special note, André's soft solo whispered and fluttered like a hummingbird. The audience was rapt with attention. Folsom Blues brought the house down and the audience to its feet for the second time that night.

For more information about the Calgary Jazz Orchestra's upcoming summer jazz concert, young jazz musician's competition and to buy 2013/14 concert season tickets, please visit the CJO's website.

The Calgary Jazz Orchestra entertained and delighted with its Pop! Concert in Calgary, Alberta on May 5, 2013. The jazz group was successful at painting a vivid soundscape colourful playing. This jazz concert was a fabulous way to end the 2012/13 concert season.

Concert Review of CJO's An Evening of Romance

Quick post - I finally got my review of the Calgary Jazz Orchestra's Feb. 12 concert "An Evening of Romance" up (hip hip hooray). It featured big band music made famous by Billie Holiday and Chet Baker.

You know, if they ever do a CD, I hope they put "My Funny Valentine" on it.  That was the BEST VERSION EVER!